August 13, 2017

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This is one of my favourite hawker centres in Singapore. Amoy Street Food Centre located in the central business district continues to offer quality hawker fare at very affordable prices.

Located just a few minutes’ walk away from Telok Ayer and Tanjong Pagar MRT stations, the place is very crowded during lunchtime when office workers head down in droves for lunch, although that is also the only time most of the stalls are open.

(Click PLAY for highlights of Amoy Street Food Centre.)

The hawker centre was opened in 1983, and has been constantly undergoing changes and renovations.

It also boasts a wide range of stalls with both foods from older generations to newer, more modern stalls selling all kinds of food items from age old favourites like char kway teow to more ‘modern’ foods like ramen and muffins.

Instead of some of the other food guides where I would gather a small group of friends to command and conquer, I made it a point to visit Amoy Food Centre at least once a week from the start of the year, each time ordering from one stall or two max.

I know I haven’t included some of the other famous stalls, because I had only that much stomach space, and some are always closed whenever I am there. (Will continue to update this guide.)

Fresh fish soup cooked to order, super duper long queue
This must be the stall with the longest queue at Amoy Food Centre at lunch hour, and can go up to 1 hour during peak periods.

Their signature dish is their Sliced Fish Soup ($5, $7), complemented with generous servings of fresh chunky pieces of fish, resulting in a clean and flavourful soup base.

I am fan of its cooked-to-order fish soup as only the freshest ingredients are used, and the portion is substantial for its price. I would suggest going slightly before 11:00am if you do not want to wait too long in line.

Reasonably priced fish soup loaded with chunks of fresh fish
The other popular fresh fish soup stall, though the queue is shorter than Han Kee’s if both are opened together. (This stall is closed for a number of times, suka-suka open kind.)

Piao Ji’s signature dish is the Pomfret with fresh Prawns Soup ($10, 12, $15). Both the fish and prawns used were very fresh, with sizable portion for its price. They also offer other fish soups which use batang or mackerel.

The stall also uses a unique chili that goes very well with their fish soups, made with chilli padi, fermented beans and pickled ginger that goes very well with their fish soups. Extra serving of the chili sauce is chargeable at $0.50.

Lor Mee with thick, gooey sauce and long history
Yuan Chun serves up signature Lor Mee ($3 onwards), and can sell up to hundreds of bowls daily. The stall is steeped in history and has been serving customers for up to 40 years.

The sauce that goes with the flat hokkien noodles is smooth, slightly on the thicker side, and packs a strong flavour.

The overall portion may be slightly small for some people though, and larger options are recommended if a larger portion is preferred ($4, $5).

Hand-made Michelin Bib Gourmand Rice Dumplings
Hoo Kee serves Hokkien style Bak Zhang or traditional Chinese dumplings. All their dumplings are made by hand and are thus of a quality that cannot be reproduced by machines. (However, the dumplings sold here are made somewhere else, not at this stall).

The Bak Zhang comes in a number of flavours including original, salted egg yolk as well as mushrooms ($2.80 for original, $3.60 for salted egg yolk or mushrooms).

Made in a traditional Hokkien style, the dumplings are more robust in flavour than its Nyonya or Cantonese counterparts, with prominent use of salted egg. The glutinous rice is also more sticky than the usual.

Healthy Spinach Soup popular with office ladies
The Spinach Soup stall gotten so popular that it has expanded to two stalls early this year.

The stall has two options for their signature spinach soup: spinach soup and minced pork with either wolfberry and mushrooms or century and salted egg. Both options cost $3.50 for just the soup or add on additional $0.50 for bee hoon, macaroni or rice. There is also sambal belachan which you can mix in with the soup for an extra kick of flavour.

While the stall is also a relative newcomer, it has already established a name for itself. This is because the soups are cooked from scratch, nutritious tasting, light enough that do not feel too heavy to induce food coma after lunch.

Pepper Bowl
#02-102
Opening Hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm, Closed Sat – Sun

Beef Horfun and Beef Rice with wok-hei
The Pepper Bowl stall is helmed by a self-taught couple, and recently got quite popular after being featured in a number of food blogs.

Signature Teochew Fishball Noodles
The stall is helmed either by Ah Ter (usually I see him at night or during the weekends), or his son – who was voted best looking hawker by The Straits Times in 2005. Years have passed, but the macho-ness got more.

The queues during lunch hours can get very long though, and it is recommended to go after peak hours to avoid the queue.

The stall’s signature dish is the Fishball Noodles ($3.50, $5, $6) that come in both soup and dry options.

Although the fishballs are not made by hand, this is made up for by the very generous amounts of ingredients heaped into each bowl. The noodles are also light and springy and go well with the spicy, tad oily sauce base.

The truffle oil adds that distinct aroma and slippery texture to the noodles, while the original version could be slightly dry. However, truffle oil is also an acquired taste, especially to local noodles, and may not be to everyone’s liking.

Beef Hor Fun and San Lao with wok-hei
The stall may look like typical zi char stall, but they serve up dishes relatively fast, and their rendition of Beef Hor Fun and San Lou Hor Fun are one of the best I had in Singapore.

I once interviewed fashion designer Keith Png, and he said the Beef Horfun here was his favourite, “It serves the best beef horfun I have ever had. The kway tiao has a slightly burnt taste to it, the amount of gravy and beef are generous and the beef is ohhhhhhhhh soooooooo tender yummy.”

Most of the dishes are also affordable priced, such as $5 for the noodles, which also come with wok hei. Other recommendations would be their Prawn Paste Chicken, Sliced Fish Soup and Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs.

Traditional Kopi & Teh with different flavours
Coffee Break’s coffee is sock-brewed the traditional way. The beans are initially roasted with sugar and margarine, which brings out the natural, rich flavours of coffee.